Date: Wed, 14 Oct 98 17:54:39 -0400
From: NGLTF
Subject: NGLTF Stmt from National Vigil
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NATIONAL GAY AND LESBIAN TASK FORCE
MEDIA ADVISORY
Contact: Tracey Conaty, Communications Director
tconaty@ngltf.org
202-332-6483 x3303
800-757-6476 pager
2320 17th Street NW, Washington, DC 20009
http://www.ngltf.org
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TASK FORCE VIGIL STATEMENT
WASHINGTON, DC---October 14, 1998---The following is a statement
by National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Director Kerry Lobel,
which she will read at the national vigil for Matthew Shepard.
The vigil is tonight, Wednesday, October 14 at 7pm on the west
steps of the U.S. Capitol. For more information or to interview
Lobel, contact NGLTF's Media Department by paging 800-757-6476.
___________________________________________________________
I am chilled and saddened by the murder of Matthew Shepard.
And I am angry. I am angry because we have lost another member
of our community to hatred. I am angry because we live in a
society that does not recognize the full humanity and equality
of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people. I am angry
and my heart is heavy. But I come here tonight not only with
anger, but also with a spirit of renewed dedication and purpose.
Tonight we lift up Matthew and his spirit, and we mourn for what
might have been. We lift up his countless friends in Colorado
and Wyoming. We hold his family close to our heart. Tonight
our parents hold us closer, and we cling even more tightly to
our children.
America is stunned by this brutal murder. Unfortunately we,
as gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people, are not
so stunned. This is not an isolated incident. The brutal
murder of Matthew Shepard is far from the first anti-gay murder,
and it is with sadness and outrage that I admit that it will
not be the last. Hundreds of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and
transgender people have been murdered simply for who they are,
simply because they are different. In our grief, let us
remember some of them:
We remember Brandon Teena, a transgender teenager in Nebraska
who was murdered for crossing gender lines.
We remember Rebecca Wight who was murdered on the Appalachian
Trail because she made love with a woman.
We remember Scott Amedure of Michigan who was murdered after
his appearance on the Jenny Jones show because he said he
had a crush on a straight man.
We remember Brian Wilmes of San Francisco who this year was
viciously beaten to death outside a gay bar by a man screaming
anti-gay epithets.
We remember Tyra Hunter, mocked by D.C. emergency workers as
she lay critically injured simply because she was transgendered.
And we remember countless others targeted for violence on the
street and in our schools. We have lost so many lives to violence.
Anti-gay violence is a fact of life for gay, lesbian, bisexual,
and transgender people in America. Anti-gay violence has become
an American tradition. It is a shameful tradition. It is a
tradition that must end.
The men who killed Matthew Shepard committed vile and evil acts.
But Matthew Shepard's death is not only about Laramie. Matthew
Shepard's death is not about Wyoming. Matthew Shepard's death
is not about cowboys. Matthew Shepard's death is not about
macho men.
Matthew Shepherd's death is about a society that devalues gay,
lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people. Matthew Shepard's
death is about a society that does not accept gay, lesbian,
bisexual and transgendered people as full human beings. Matthew
Shepard's death is about institutional discrimination perpetrated
by all three branches of our government. Matthew Shepard's death
is about a Supreme Court that upheld the criminalization of us.
Matthew Shepard's death is about a Congress that condones
discrimination against us in its refusal to pass the Employment
Non-Discrimination Act and in its blatant discrimination against
the ambassadorial nomination of openly gay James Hormel. Matthew
Shepard's death is about a President who condemns hate violence
but still signed the anti-gay Defense of Marriage Act. Matthew
Shepard's death is about a society that consciously and
purposefully excludes gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender
peo
religious life. Matthew Shepard's death is about a society that
calls us criminals for loving each other.
The murder of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people
is the most extreme expression of the homophobia we live with
everyday. Whether we are gay teenagers harassed and beaten
in high school, adults who are compared to kleptomaniacs by
the leader of the Senate, mothers who lose custody of our
children because we are lesbians, or employees who are afraid
to put pictures of our partner on our desks, we are all the
target of homophobia.
We all live with hatred and fear, whether we live in Laramie or
Little Rock, in San Francisco or Washington, DC. In America's
smallest towns and largest cities we live with the specter of
fear over our shoulder, because we live in a society that
debates whether we have a right to exist. Whether it's ignoring,
killing, curing, or discriminating, the point is still erasure.
We are not equal and we are not safe. And it is this reality
that fuels our passion for justice.
Nearly all of America has expressed outrage at the killing of
Matthew Shepard. Americans, perhaps, are feeling some of the
pain we feel every day. We are grateful for your attention and
your outrage, America. But, we ask, where have you been? Where
have you been, America, for the 18 victims of anti-gay murder
last year? And where will you be, America, when this story of
Matthew Shepard grows old? Where will you be, America, when
the next gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender person is murdered
because of who they are? Where will you be, America, when another
TV or newspaper ad runs claiming that gay people should change ­
that we should not be able to exist simply as we are? What will
you say the next time you hear an anti-gay joke? How will you
vote on the ballot measure in your state that would deny basic
equality ­ nothing more and nothing less ­ for gay, lesbian,
bisexual, and transgender people? Where have you been, America?
More importantly, America, where will you be?
Finally, I say this to our gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered
communities. Tonight, we hold each other close and we mourn. But
tomorrow, each of us must lead the way. Each of us must lead in
the cities and towns where we live. Each of us must work for our
own equality and stand with those whose issues are inextricably
linked with ours. It is no coincidence that the alleged killers
of Matthew Shepard also are reported to have targeted two Latino
teenagers, even cutting the scalp of one of them. We have a
responsibility to acknowledge and speak up against all expressions
of discrimination, scapegoating, and violence. Our struggle must
be focused but it must not be narrow. We cannot expect others to
be there for us if we are not there for them.
Tonight, I ask all of you recommit yourselves to repealing sodomy
laws in every state, to passing hate crimes and civil rights laws
in every state, and to working for school safety in towns and cities
across America. We must let this outrage spark a renewal of our spirits
and of our commitment to work for equality for every American.
-30-
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Founded in 1973, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force works to eliminate prejudice, violence and injustice against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people at the local, state and national level. As part of a broader social justice movement for freedom, justice and equality, NGLTF is creating a world that respects and celebrates the diversity of human expression and identity where all people may fully participate in society.
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